Ray Hayworth (1904)
Pancho Coimbre (1909)
Bill Rigney (1918)
Hank Edwards (1919)
Frank Gravino (1923)
Bobby Bolin (1939)
Sergio Ferrer (1951)
Steve Sax (1960)
Mike Aldrete (1961)
John Habyan (1964)
Jason Schmidt (1973)
Pancho Coimbre (1909)
Bill Rigney (1918)
Hank Edwards (1919)
Frank Gravino (1923)
Bobby Bolin (1939)
Sergio Ferrer (1951)
Steve Sax (1960)
Mike Aldrete (1961)
John Habyan (1964)
Jason Schmidt (1973)
Pancho Coimbre was a star in the Caribbean Leagues and the
Negro leagues in the 1940s. Roberto Clemente said that Coimbre was a
better player than Clemente was. Coimbre played two full seasons in
the Puerto Rican League in which he did not strike out.
Frank Gravino played in the minors from 1940-1942 and 1946-1954.
He has been called the greatest slugger in Northern League history,
hitting 108 home runs in two seasons there.
William Joseph Rigney
managed the Twins for approximately two and a half seasons from
1970-1972. Born in Alameda, California, Rigney went to high school in
Oakland. He entered organized baseball in 1938, playing
shortstop for various minor-league teams, mostly on the west
coast. As the farm system had not been fully developed yet, most of these
teams were independent teams. He went into the military after the 1942
season, serving in the Coast Guard, and did not return to
baseball until 1946. When he returned, it was in the
majors--Rigney was a mostly regular infielder for the New York Giants, playing
primarily at third base. He spent his entire major league career with the
Giants, a career which spanned eight seasons. His best years
were 1947-1949, when he averaged .271 and averaged 11 homers per season.
Rigney was primarily a second baseman the first two of those years, playing
more shortstop in 1949. He never was quite a full time player, playing
between 110 and 130 games per season. In 1950 he was replaced at
shortstop by Alvin Dark, and became a reserve for the next four seasons.
After his major league career ended, he became the player-manager of the
Minneapolis Millers from 1954-1955. He became manager of the Giants in
1956, replacing Leo Durocher, and went to San Francisco with the club. He
was the first manager of the Angels, running the team from 1961-1969, and then
became manager of Minnesota. He won the division with the Twins in 1970,
their second consecutive division title, but the team fell apart in 1971 and he
was fired mid-way through the 1972 season. He managed the Giants again in
1976. Rigney also did some broadcasting for both the Giants and the
Athletics, did some scouting, and worked in the Athletics' front office.
He was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. Bill
Rigney passed away on February 20, 2001, in Walnut Creek, California.
Infielder Sergio (Marrero) Ferrer played for Minnesota briefly
from 1974-1975. He was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, and signed with the
Dodgers as a free agent in 1970. He was quite small (5'7", 145 lbs), but
hit for a good average with a pretty fair number of walks in the low
minors. His numbers dropped when he was promoted to AA in 1973 at age 22,
and he was left unprotected after the season. The Twins selected Ferrer
in the Rule 5 draft. He began 1974 as Minnesota's starting shortstop and
did quite well, batting .313 for the first month of the season. Oddly, he
started only two more games after that, being replaced at shortstop first by
Jerry Terrell and then by Danny Thompson. He was still batting .281 when
he was sent back to the minors in late May. He had a good year in AAA,
and was back with the Twins at the start of 1975. He was their starting
shortstop again for about three weeks and didn't do all that badly, but he
again lost the job to Thompson and was back in the minors by early June.
After the season, Ferrer was traded to Philadelphia for Larry Cox. He was
in AAA for the Phillies in 1976 and was traded to the Yankees after the
season, spending 1977 playing at AAA for them. After that season he
was traded to the Mets and pretty much stopped hitting. Ferrer was in the
big leagues for most of the 1978 season, but was used exclusively as a
pinch runner and defensive replacement, appearing in only 37 games and getting
only 33 at-bats. He was back at AAA for 1979, getting only a September
call-up. Ferrer hung on in AAA through 1981, finishing his career in the
Cincinnati organization. As a Twin, Sergio Ferrer hit .261/.322/.326 in
138 at-bats. He played in the Seniors League in 1989. No further
information about Sergio Ferrer's current life was readily available.
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